The Programs.

What you will encounter at a St. Joseph’s Farm program is contained in the tagline:

“Work. Pray. Rest.”

Along with being a description of what happens at the farm, the tagline draws upon the Benedictine spirit of ora et labora (work and prayer). Men, if they are to be the virtuous leaders society needs, must learn to cultivate an inner life of prayer that sanctifies and integrates their daily work, and find ways of work that integrate with the needs of the soul and one’s vocation as a father.

Traditional skills and crafts were tangibly linked to the home, but they also reconnect us to disconnected relationships with nature, community, and family. For example, our society has lost its rites of passage for young men, which traditionally came through work and craft in the West (apprenticing, guilds, etc.), and has failed to replace them, leaving adolescent boys unfinished and confused. SJF offers programs for brotherhoods of men and their sons to learn and experience the necessary parts of maturity to ensure that they, and their sons, grow into mature men both naturally and spiritually.

The addition of “rest” reminds us that we do not rest so as to work, but work so that we may rest. In work or prayer, a soul should be at rest in God, but today our frantic and frenzied pace makes rest literally impossible. The deep rest we need, which Josef Pieper described as leisure, is not passivity, but the contemplative openness to truth and reality – it is a foretaste of the eternal rest in God. If we cannot recognize truth, we cannot live by it. Leisure is not just scheduled “pauses” in work, but a habit of mind and heart that leads to wisdom, virtue, and love.

Do you need a new understanding and integration of work, a greater depth and discipline in prayer, and a soul more at rest in a restless world? Or, do you just feel the need to get your hands dirty and learn the craft of homesteading? Consider visiting St. Joseph’s Farm, and make sure to sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on upcoming retreats and programs.

FAMILIES

Who Should Visit St. Joseph’s Farm?

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FATHERS & SONS

Do you, as a community of men, understand why so many boys remain immature and unfinished and what you can do about it? SJF hosts programs that layout the principles of a rite of passage and allow you, as a fathers, to ensure that your sons reach maturity and grow in virtue. The classes in homesteading and traditional crafts also provide a means of connection within the home.

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MEN'S GROUPS

Are you a part of or in the leadership of a men’s group or apostolate? Bring your team or the men you work with to SJF to recharge and gain greater clarity and vision for reviving and working with men.

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COLLEGIATE MEN

Unsure what to study? Trying to find your purpose in life? Just need a break to connect with the natural order God created? Come spend time at the farm and place yourself in the reality of a working farm. Sweat, hard work, true leisure and fraternal community has a way of bringing out the best in a young man. The experiences range from weekend events, week long “work weeks” and limited long-term apprentices to assist on the farm.

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SEMINARIANS

The immaturity in our culture is effecting priestly formation as well. A man needs security and experience in his natural masculinity in order to discern and be formed in the supernatural masculinity of the priesthood and religious life.

REACH OUT

Contact Us.

Spaces are usually limited to 15-20 participants. Sign up to receive updates about SFJ in general, notices of upcoming programs, or to inquiry about bringing a group.

Spaces are usually limited to 15-20 participants. Sign up to receive updates about SFJ in general, notices of upcoming programs, or to inquiry about bringing a group.